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In The Greatest Showman P.T. Barnum is shown as a champion for outsiders who accepts and celebrates their differences and their diversity, but can the movie truly have a positive message when the very man who it makes its sympathetic hero is really a man who exploited people with disabilities and people of color to make money.

There's a stereotype that all black people love watermelon, but where does this trope come from? In this episode we'll talk about how since the Civil War the black community has been negatively associated with watermelon throughout pop culture, from minstrel shows to newspapers, music and cartoons, and paper goods to TV. And whether we realize it or not, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, the stereotype and trope remains today - because that’s American culture and American history.

Dumbo might be a classic, but it’s important to understand the history behind one of its characters, especially when that history encompasses slavery, racism, and discrimination in the United States, starting with blackface at minstrel shows and ending in written laws.